Years later, as they looked back on their lives and wondered how they got to where they were, that would be what killed them. They had been told about the dangers, what might happen, and they still signed on the dotted lines. How could they not? The money offered for the project was substantial, and the promise of power was tempting.

Allow me to backtrack first. After the second world war, the United States decided that mass casualties wasn't the best way to fight the war. Scientists threw themselves behind creating super soldiers. But the original test subjects were too rigid and inflexible and rejected the created serum. Their bodies couldn't handle the change. Thus, younger volunteers were sought after. The government looked for the desperate, or those who wouldn't be missed if the experiments went amiss.

But they didn't. The children survived. And they wielded powers never before seen. They were joyous – until they read the fine print on the contracts they had signed in ignorance. They were all owned, and the scientists took full advantage of that. For two years, the volunteers were nothing more than guinea pigs. They were regulated to numbers, and more than one was driven utterly insane. Perhaps they would have been let go earlier, but the scientists were hit with drawbacks. It depended on the nature of the person's power, but the drawbacks were vital enough that the volunteers were essentially useless as weapons.

Escape came in the form of human stupidity. A guard got careless with his utility belt, and, keys in hand, a group of experiments were able to escape. They split up and vowed to lay low, and never see each other again. That was three years ago.

Three days ago, there was an attack. One of the former experiments was accosted in her New York apartment by another superhuman. One who didn't have the drawbacks. A little less powerful, but a super none the less. She barely escaped but the pursuit continued. She realized that all the former experiments were being tracked down, one by one, and if they were going to survive, they needed to band together. With some help, she began her search for the others